Bottle dispensing apparatus having ice breaker members



Aug. 29, 1967 M. W. NEWBERRY BOTTLE DISPENSING APPARATUS HAVING ICE BREAKER MEMBERS Filed March 25, 1965 5 Sheets-$heet 1 g- 29, 1967 M. w. NEWBERRY 3,338,470

BOTTLE DISPENSING APPARATUS HAVING ICE BREAKER MEMBER-5 Filed March 25, 1965 5 g s F i G. 4

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BOTTLE DISPENSING APPARATUS HAVING ICE BREAKER MEMBERS Filed March 25, 1965 5 Sheetsfiheet FIG.8.

Aug. 29, 1967 M. w. NEWBERRY BOTTLE DISPENSING APPARATUS HAVING ICE BREAKER MEMBERS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5:.

Filed March 25, 1965 United States Patent 3,338,470 BOTTLE DISPENSING APPARATUS HAVING ICE BREAKER MEMBERS Meigs W. Newberry, East Longmeadow, Mass., assignor to-Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pa.,

a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Mar. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 442,664 2 Claims. (Cl. 221-67) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A vending machine having a corded stack column structure with converging curved side walls at the lowerend to vend a single article is provided with mechanism to positively move the next the lowermost article each time the release mechanism vends the lowermost article.

This invention relates to dispensing apparatus suitable for use in a vending machine, more particularly to a storage compartment thereof for articles of circular crosssection, such as bottles or cans. It relates more particuv larly to a compartment for a corded stack of such articles. A corded stack, as used in this specification, means a stack comprising a plurality of columns of articles of circular cross-section, the articles in each column being disposed in vertically staggered and horizontally overlapping relation to the articles of the adjacent column.

A common practice is to provide a mechanism for releasing or dispensing bottles alternately from one and then the other of the columns of a corded stack. Such mechanism is more involved and costly than a mechanism for dispensing articles from a stack of single article width and, accordingly, efforts have been made to converge the two columns into a single column by converging the lower portions of the sides of the compartment. Compartments of this nature have been found to be liable to jamming or bridging; that is, a bottle becomes wedged or gripped between the converging side and the next higher bottle, because these two surfaces engaging the bottles, or the tangents at the points of contact with the bottle, are too nearly parallel and not at a sufliciently wide angle of divergence to permit the bottle to drop freely from between the same.

In accordance with the present invention, there are provided downwardly converging sides or article retaining elements which converge at first only very slightly and then converge progressively more and more from top to bottom. The initial slight convergence decreases the angle of divergence only very slightly, but at the'same time it begins to move the two columns of bottles toward each other; in other words, the bottles begin to move to positions under each other, tilting the tangent at the point of contact between adjacent bottles in the direction to increase the angle of divergence. As the tangent tilts more and more, the sides may converge more and more while still providing a satisfactory angle of divergence.

The bottle engaging surfaces of the converging sides or retaining elements are preferably of concavely curved form such that the angle of divergence does not decrease below about 28. After the initial convergence, the angle of divergence preferably becomes gradually greater, for example, of the order of 34 or 36 in the intermediate portion and of the order of 44 toward the lower end.

A further feature of the invention resides in providing converging article retaining elements at the opposite ends of the bottles, the retaining elements at the neck ends of the bottles being of the same form as the elements engaging the butt ends of the bottles, but spaced more closely to each other by a distance equal to the difference in diameter between the butt ends and the neck ends of the bottles. The retaining elements at the neck and at the butt ends of the bottles hold the bottles so that their shoulders or mid porions are spaced from the side walls or other structure and are not confined. This arrangement has been found to provide a very high degree of reliability.

A further feature of the invention resides in the provision of an ice breaker mechanism for breaking loose or moving the two lowermost bottles in the event that one or both become frozen to another bottle or part of the structure, or for any other reason fail to follow the releasing movement of the bottle supporting and releasing member or'members. This ice breaker mechanism comprises two pivoted ice breaker members having abutments disposed on opposite sides of the two positions of the neck end of the second lowermost bottle and actuated, during a bottle releasing or dispensing operation, to move toward each other to engage the neck of the second lowermost bottle and thereby forcibly move the second lowermost bottle and through it the lowermost bottle.

These and other objects are eifected by the invention as will be apparent from the following description and claims taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this application, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a vertical section, taken on the line II of FIG. 2, showing a part of a bottle-containing compartment including a lower section incorporating the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section, taken on line 11-11 of FIG. 1, through the lower or bottle converging section of the compartment;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section, on line III-III of FIG. 4, showing the bottle guide for retaining the butt ends of the bottles and includes the dimensions of one form which has been found to be highly reliable;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal section taken on the line IVIV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is an elevation of the neck guide, showing the dimensions of the neck engaging surfaces of one form that has been found to be highly reliable;

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the neck guide shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 1, showing the lower portion of a compartment provided with an ice breaker mechanism;

FIG. 8 is a side elevation of the ice breaker mechanism shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a vertical section, taken on line IX-IX of FIG. 10, showing a compartment provided with a guide having converging retaining elements and adapted for the dispensing of cans; and

FIG. 10 is a horizontal section taken on line XX of FIG. 9.

Referring to the drawings in detail, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a bottle compartment 10, of which there may be any desired number in a bottle dispensing or vending machine. The compartment 10 comprises side walls 11 and 12, either or both of which may be a partition between adjacent compartments, a rear wall 13, and front wall portions 14, the adjacent edges of which may be spaced to provide for insertion of bottles into the compartment.

The compartment 10 will be considered as comprising a lower section which extends for the height of and contains, the hereinafter described converging bottle retaining elements, and an upper section which extends upwardly from the top of such retaining elements to the top of the compartment and comprises the major portion of the compartment. The upper section may, as in the illustrated embodiment, be provided with sheet metal liners 15 and 16 on the side walls 11 and 12 to provide inner or bottle contacting surfaces that are in alignment with the corresponding surfaces of the mentioned converging elements to be described. However, the use of such liners is optional, since convergence from a greater width down to the corded width appears to present no problem.

The upper section may be uniform in horizontal seciion, with the side walls 11 and 12 and their liners 15 and 16 spaced to accommodate a corded stack of the largest size of bottles intended to be accommodated. For example, it may be desired to accommodate 12 ounce bottles having a diameter of 2%" at the butt end and at the shoulder, and which provide a corded stack of a width of 4.898". For practical purposes, however, it is preferred to provide a width of 4.938" between the inside surfaces of the liners 15 and 16.

The upper section is provided with a neck guide 17 which comprises a vertically extending sheet metal channel member. The neck guide 17 is adapted to be mounted in different positions lengthwise of the bottles to accommodate the compartment to bottles of different length, as is already well known in the art; for example, by means of brackets 18, The sheet metal channel member comprises a vertical wall 19 disposed parallel to the rear wall and serving to restrain endwise movements of the bottles, and flanges 20 and 21 extending forwardly from the vertical wall 19 to retain the neck ends of the bottles against lateral movement. There may be further flange members 22 and 23 extending outwardly from the flanges 20 and 21 respectively. The flanges 20 and 21 are disposed to space the neck ends of the bottles sufficiently from the side walls so that the shoulders of the bottles are also spaced from the side walls. Adjacent bottles contact each other at the shoulder similarly to contact at the butt ends to provide the corded stack relation. This type of structure has been found to have a high degree of freedom from bridging or chord jamming, that is, a bottle being wedged between the side wall and the next higher bottle 'in the adjacent column.

The lower section of the compartment comprises the novel bottle retaining elements of the present invention. Included first is a bottle guide 24, shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, for guiding and retaining the butt ends of the bottles. The bottle guide 24 comprises a vertical wall 25 disposed adjacent and parallel to the front wall portions 14, and flanges 26 and 27 projecting rearwardly from the wall 25. The flanges 26 and 27 are disposed with their upper ends in opposing relation to the lower ends of the liners 15 and 16 and with their inner surfaces in alignment with the inner surfaces of said liners, as shown in FIG. 1. The bottle guide 24 may be mounted in the compartment by any suitable expedient, as well-known in the art. The vertical wall 25 serves to retain the bottles against endwise movement. The fingers 26 and 27 retain the bottles laterally and are hereinafter referred to as bottle or article retaining elements. The converging form of the flanges 26 and 27 will be explained after reference to the neck guide in the lower section.

Further included in the converging bottle retaining elements in the lower section of the compartment is a converging neck guide 28 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, 5 and 6. This neck guide comprises, in part, an integral extension of the neck guide 17 into the lower section, but it further comprises flat plates 29 and 30 attached, as by spot welding, to the outwardly-extending flanges 22 and 23 of the neck guide 17. The adjacent or opposed edges of the plates 29 and 30 are of converging form, shown in FIG. 5, to converge the bottles at the neck ends as the flanges 26 and 27 converge the bottles at the butt ends. The plates 29 and 30 are the bottle or article retaining elements for the neck ends of the bottles as hereinafter referred to.

The form or shape of the flanges or bottle retaining elements 26 and 27 will now be considered. As mentioned above, the problem here involves what may be referred to as the angle of divergence. Referring to FIG. 1, it will be noted that each bottle contacts the adjacent liner 15 or 16 or the adjacent flange or bottle retaining element 26 or 27, at a point the tangent of which is designated by line B, and it contacts the next higher bottle in the adjacent column at a point the tangent line of which is designated by the line C. The angle between these lines B and C is herein referred to as the angle of divergence and is designated A on the drawing. It will be apparent that if it were attempted to converge the two columns of bottles too rapidly by tilting the bottle retaining element at a substantial angle to vertical, and to nearly parallel to the tangent line C, the bottle would become wedged between the bottle retaining element and the adjacent bottle. It is, therefore, important to maintain the angle of divergence sufliciently great to permit a bottle to be released freely from between the bottle retaining element and the adjacent bottle. In the case of parallel side walls spaced the width of a corded stack, as in the upper section of the compartment 10, the angle of divergence is approximately 30 degrees for each bottle, and this angle has been found satisfactory to provide free movement of the bottles, particularly when using a neck guide as described above in connection with the upper section. However, to begin convergence of the two columns of bottles, some decrease in this angle of divergence is unavoidable.

In accordance with the present invention, the bottle retaining elements, which are the flanges 26 and 27, are converged first only very slightly to begin the convergence of the columns; that is, to move the two columns toward each other. The form of the flanges 26 and 27 is such that, from the upper end down, the angle of divergence at first decreases to a value somewhat below 30 but not below about 28. For example, the bottle 32 may have an angle of divergence of about 28. As soon as a bottle moves a distance along a converging surface, it moves horizontally toward the opposite flange or bottle retaining surface and tilts the tangent line C at a greater angle to vertical, in the direction to increase the angle of divergence. Thus, as the tilt or inclination of the line C increases, the tilt or inclination of the line B may increase equally without changing the angle of divergence. However, as soon as the tangent line C has tilted several degrees, for example 3 to 4, it is desirable to increase the angle of divergence. For example, the bottle 33 may have an angle of divergence of 32 and the bottle 34 may have an angle of divergence of 36. The need for the greater angle of divergence in the lower portion of the bottle guide is thought to be due to the fact that the surface of the flange is now at an angle to the vertical and only a component of the force provided by gravity applies in the direction of movement of the bottle along the flange or bottle retaining element.

The flanges 26 and 27 converge toward each other until at the lower end, as shown on the drawing, they are spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the butt end of the bottle, in order to permit the bottle to drop freely therebetween. The initial slight convergence and the gradually increasing convergence from top to bottom results in a curve of the bottle guiding surface which, at the top, is tangent to vertical and is of increasing sharpness or reducing radius from the top to the bottom.

The converging bottle retaining edges or surfaces of the neck guide plates 29 and 30 are of a form corresponding to the form of the flanges 26 and 27; in other words, they are of a form to converge the centers of the neck ends of the bottles equally to the centers of the bottles at the butt ends. Thus, the spacing between these edges, at each level, differs from the spacing between the flanges by an amount equal to the difference in diameter between the neck and butt ends of the bottle.

There are given in FIG. 3, by way of example, the dimensions in inches of the spacing between the bottle engaging surfaces of a bottle guide and, in FIG. 5, the dimensions in inches of the spacing between the bottle 'engaging surfaces of a neck guide which, when used together to dispense bottles of a diameter of 2% inches at the butt end and at the shoulder and 1% inch diameter at the neck, have been found to provide a high degree of reliability of performance.

While the flanges 26 and 27 might be extended any desired distance toward the rear end of the compartment, it has been found that the provision of bottle retaining elements that engage the end portions of the bottles only, leaving the shoulders of the bottles out of contact with any retaining elements or stationary structure, provides a very high degree of reliability in avoiding jamming or wedging of the bottles.

Any suitable mechanism may be provided to support and release the lowermost bottle. One very satisfactory mechanism is the one disclosed and claimed in Patent No. 3,118,567 of M. W. Newberry. Such mechanism comprises two rods 41 and 42 mounted at their opposite ends on levers 43 and 44. In their rest positions shown in FIG. 1, the rods support the lowermost bottle. To release the lowermost bottle, the levers 43 and 44 are rotated to move the rods 41 and 42 away from each other to the dot-dash line positions, permitting the lowermost bottle to pass therebetween, whereupon the rods are moved toward each other to support the next lowermost bottle. Since the specific construction of such mechanism forms no part of the present invention and is fully disclosed in the mentioned patent, it is not deemed necessary to further illustrate or describe the same herein.

In FIGS. 7 and 8 there is shown an ice breaker mechanism suitable for use with the embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. The lower end of the neck guide 28 is cut off at 45, and two ice breaker members 46 and 47 are pivoted to the wall 19 of the neck guide on a. common pivot 48. The members 46 and 47 are formed with forwardly projecting flanges 49 and 50, Which are disposed so that their inner surfaces form continuations of the bottle guiding edges or surfaces of the plates 29 and 30. The member 46 has an arm 51 extending to the right and downwardly in spaced relation to the rod 42 and the member 47 has an arm 52 extending to the left and downwardly in spaced relation to the rod 41.

Assume now that the neck of the second lowermost bottle abuts the flange 50 of the ice breaker member 47, upon a dispensing operation, the rods 41 and 42 are moved away from each other. After'completing a portion of such movement, they engage the arms 51 and 52, moving the ice breaker members to move the flanges 49 and 50 toward each other. If this second lowermost bottle has failed to move downwardly for any reason, whether due to being frozen in place or otherwise, the abutment or flange 50 moves the neck of the second lowermost bottle to the left. The lowermost bottle, if it also. has failed to move, is moved by the second lowermost bottle. Upon such nudging movement, the bottles are freed and readily drop by gravity.

The second lowermost bottle is now on the lefthand side with its neck in abutment with the flange 49, in the position indicated by the circle 53. Upon the next dispensing operation, should said bottle fail for any reason to move, the flange 49 nudges or moves the neck of this bottle, and through it the lowermost bottle.

There is sufiicient space between each rod and its actuated arm 51 or 52 to permit the bottles to move down wardly before the flange 49 or 50 moves sutficiently to engage the adjacent bottle neck.

In FIGS. 9 and there is shown an embodiment of the invention suitable for dispensing cans. It comprises two can guides 54 which are identical with each other and similar to the converging bottle guide 24 of the first embodiment. Each can guide 54 comprises two parts 55 and 56 provided with flanges 57 and 58 which are preferably identical to the form of the flanges 26 and 27 of the first embodiment.

The parts 55 and 56 are adjustable relative to each other to adjust the width or spacing between the flanges 57 and 58 to accommodate cans of different diameter. The overlapping marginal portions of the parts 55 and 56 are provided with'three sets 59, 60 and 61, of openings shown in FIG. 9. These openings are so located in said parts so that by placing the openings 59 in registry and inserting screws 62 therethrough, the parts are adjusted for maximum width of the spacing between the flanges 57 and 58; by placing the parts to bring the openings 60 in registry and extending the screws 62 therethrough, the parts are adjusted for intermediate width of the mentioned spacing; and by placing the parts to bring the openings 61 in registry and extending the screws therethrough, the parts are adjusted for minimum width of the mentioned spacing.

The part 55 of each can guide may be formed with an inwardly projecting rib 63 to oflFset the adjacent column of cans longitudinally from the other column of cans, as shown in FIG. 10, so as to place the rims of the cans in one column out of alignment with the rims of the cans in the other column.

I claim as my invention:

1. In bottle dispensing apparatus,

a compartment for a corded stack of bottles, comprismeans for holding the bottles against lengthwise movement,

bottle retaining elements for retaining the bottles against lateral movement,

the retaining elements in the upper portion of the compartment being uniformly spaced to accommodate the bottles in corded or vertically staggered, horizontally overlapping relation,

the retaining elements in the lower portion of the compartment converging downwardly to widths permitting a single bottle to pass therebetween,

mechanism for supporting and releasing the lowermost bottle in the compartment,

a pair of ice breaker members having abutment elements disposed on opposite sides of the two positions of the second lowermost bottle, and

means actuated by said mechanism during a bottle releasing operation to move said abutment elements toward each other,

whereby one of said abutment elements moves into engagement with the neck of the second lowermost bottle to move it in the event that it has failed to move.

2. In bottle dispensing apparatus,

a compartment for a corded stack of bottles, comprising means for holding the bottles against lengthwise movement,

bottle retaining elements for retaining the bottles against lateral movement,

the retaining elements in the upper portion of the compartment being uniformly spaced to accommodate the bottles in corded or vertically staggered, horizontally overlapping relation,

the retaining elements in the lower portion of the compartment converging downwardly to widths permitting a single bottle to pass therebetween,

a pair of bottle supporting and releasing rods which,

in their normal or rest position, support the lowermost bottle adjacent the lower end of said retaining elements,

means for moving said rods away from each other to release the lowermost bottle, and

a pair of ice breaker members having abutment elements disposed on opposite sides of the two positions of the second lowermost bottle,

each of said ice breaker members having an extension including a part disposed in the path of releasing movement of the opposite rod, whereby, when said rods move away from each other to release the 7 g lowermost bottle, the ice breaker abutments move 2,836,326 5/1958 Childers 22167 toward each other, one into engagement with the 3,104,779 9/1963 Denzer 22167 X neck of the second lowermost bottle to move it in 3,263,856 8/ 1966 Gasparini 22167 the event that it has failed to move.

5 FOREIGN PATENTS References 866,798 6/1941 France.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,308,532 1/1943 Mills l 221 67 ROBERT B. REEVES, Przmary Examzner.

2,438,502 3/1948 Holt 22167 X 10 KENNETH N. LEIMER, Examiner. 

1. IN BOTTLE DISPENSING APPARATUS, A COMPARTMENT FOR A CORDED STACK OF BOTTLES, COMPRISING MEANS FOR HOLDING THE BOTTLES AGAINST LENGTHWISE MOVEMENT, BOTTLE RETAINING ELEMENTS FOR RETAINING THE BOTTLES AGAINST LATERAL MOVEMENT, THE RETAINING ELEMENTS IN THE UPPER PORTION OF THE COMPARTMENT BEING UNIFORMLY SPACED TO ACCOMMODATE THE BOTTLES IN CORDED OR VERTICALLY STAGGERED, HORIZONTALLY OVERLAPPING RELATION, THE RETAINING ELEMENTS IN THE LOWER PORTION OF THE COMPARTMENT COVERGING DOWNWARDLY TO WIDTHS PERMITTING A SINGLE BOTTLE TO PASS THEREBETWEEN, MACHANISM FOR SUPPORTING AND RELEASING THE LOWERMOST BOTTLE IN THE COMPARTMENT, 